Open lawlessness and insolent violation of the rights and freedoms of citizens in Moscow have become more widespread in recent days and weeks: beatings of people by police and military, arrests, searches in the middle of the night, and deliberate falsification by the authorities of the procedure of verification of voters’ signatures the candidates had to collect to be registered in the election. It is obvious that the authorities are unable to organise a normal electoral process. Given all this, the political demands of the opposition should be as follows:

First. Dissolution of the Moscow City Electoral Commission, which was unable to fulfill its direct responsibilities in organising elections to the Moscow City Duma, and brought the matter to a sharp public conflict instead.

Second. Immediate adoption of a new law on the Moscow City Duma – with new representativeness (at least 110 deputies [instead of 45 at present]) and real, not formal, powers.

Third. Adoption of a new law on elections to the Moscow City Duma, according to which half of the deputies should be elected by party lists, and half by a majority system with elections in two rounds.

Fourth. Dissolution of all existing public and civil structures under the Moscow Mayor’s Office and formation of new ones according to new principles and rules, with a full renewal of the staff, without including discredited persons.

Fifth. Early elections for the Mayor of Moscow in 2019. The present Mayor was unable to ensure the safety of the residents of Moscow and did not prevent beating of Muscovites on the streets of the city and even under the windows of his office.

Sixth. Adoption of the law on introduction of real civic control over the security structures in Moscow, with endowing the newly formed special public structures with all the relevant powers.

Seventh. Ban on the transfer of the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Guard from other regions of the Russian Federation to Moscow; officers of police and other law enforcement agencies should serve only at the place of permanent deployment of their units, transfer to other regions is possible only for elimination of natural disasters and in case of other emergencies.

Eighth. The most important task is immediate launching of the judicial reform. Only independent court represent an alternative to a police state; only independent court can ensure the safety of citizens and fair elections.

The situation in Moscow is of a systemic nature, characteristic of the whole Russian Federation. In essence, what is happening in the capital of Russia is no different from the state of affairs in St. Petersburg, the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Irkutsk Region and in any other subject of the Russian Federation; it has the same causes and roots. Being here in Moscow, we release well what our fellow citizens face across the country, we express our solidarity with all those who suffered from violence and arbitrariness, as well as from fires and flooding in the eastern part of the Russian Federation. We certainly condemn the irresponsibility, incompetence and corruption of the authorities, which led to a catastrophic increase in the scale of natural disasters.

Grigory Yavlinsky,
Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party